The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit investigative newsroom that focuses on statewide accountability reporting, has received a second round of funding from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. The $100,000 grant will help AZCIR continue its data analysis service for partner newsrooms while growing the Center’s capacity to produce multimedia-rich content across media platforms.

Arizona election regulators have taken note of records showing that Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump was in regular contact with the campaigns of candidates he supported and a “dark money” group that helped get them elected, and they want to see and inspect those records themselves.

The Arizona Citizens Clean Election Commission has asked for copies of text message logs and communications in order to determine whether a further investigation is warranted.

Arizona Corporation Commissioner Bob Stump repeatedly communicated with the executive director of a “dark money” group that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help elect the candidates he backed, while also keeping regular contact with those candidates, their campaign manager, and a senior executive of the state’s largest utility, Arizona Public Service, according to recently released records.

The links to Stump, who was the Commission chairman at the time, come three months after a whistleblower complaint made by a Commission staff member alleged that Stump and former commissioner Gary Pierce facilitated electioneering from inside the commission.

When Pinnacle West Capital Corporation shareholders open their mail this spring, they’ll be asked whether the state’s largest utility should provide more information about money it spends to influence policies and elections in Arizona.

While the Pinnacle West board of directors has unanimously panned the proposal, tens of thousands of shareholders have the chance to vote on it, even though it would only be symbolic. The votes will be tallied at the organization’s May 20 shareholder meeting.

PHOENIX -- The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, an independent, investigative newsroom launched in 2012, has been awarded 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status by the Internal Revenue Service. The Center, known as AZCIR, is a statewide, accountability reporting...

PHOENIX – Hundreds of voters in Colorado City made nearly identical choices when casting ballots in the November 2014 election, continuing a bizarre trend where a block of voters didn’t choose any candidate in some races, but voted almost 100 percent for an individual candidate in others.

Republican Secretary of State Michele Reagan, the Republican slate for Corporation Commission and Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar each earned 97 percent of the vote in Colorado City. Gov. Doug Ducey and Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas, also Republicans, each earned 95 percent of the vote.

When it came to picking a state senator or retaining Arizona Supreme Court justices, Colorado City voters – by the hundreds – didn’t cast a vote. And in the races for attorney general and the Arizona House, about 200 people who otherwise voted Republican up and down the ticket cast ballots for particular Democrats.

Every year, organizations registered with the state as lobbying entities are required to file an annual lobbying activity report. Here’s a list of all the organizations that are registered as lobbying entities with the Secretary of State’s website, but which have not filed their report or asked for an exemption to the reporting requirements.

Public tax filings from the ASU Foundation and APS Foundation, as reported this week by the Sunlight Foundation and the Arizona Republic, highlight a string of contributions culminating in a $100,000 grant to a “dark money” political group.

AZCIR downloaded these documents so our readers can search through and explore the filings.

In the weeks following Doug Ducey’s 2014 gubernatorial win, state agencies, departments and commissions prepared a report to provide a snapshot of the organization, from the perspective of its top staff, intended to inform an incoming governor.

The reports detail the agencies’ three most pressing challenges, greatest accomplishments and opportunities for reform, along with vital statistics about agency size, budget and organizational structure.

Arizona’s energy regulators decided yesterday not to pursue a practice of discussing policy matters away from the public, even though the Arizona Corporation Commission’s attorney said it wouldn’t run afoul of the state’s open meeting laws.